”We strongly condemn this morning’s horrifying attack on Abdul Rahim Shahid boy’s high school in western Kabul.
”Afghanistan has been one of the deadliest and most challenging countries for children to receive an education for way too long. Insecurity, direct attacks, poverty, and the recent suspension of girls’ return to secondary school have robbed thousands of students of their basic rights to learning over the past decades.
”We call for full access to education for all students in Afghanistan – girls and boys alike. Children need to be provided with a safe environment and protected from facing deadly threats while pursuing their dreams of a better future.”
Facts and figures:
- UNICEF estimates that over 4 million children are out of school, of which 60 per cent are girls.
- Girls’ Secondary schools have been mostly closed in Afghanistan for the past eight months. See also our latest statement here.
- About 8 million children in crisis in Afghanistan require emergency education in 2022 - a nearly threefold increase compared to needs at the start of 2021.
- Qualified female teachers are scarce in remote areas, mainly due to a lack of girls’ enrolment past primary grades, which further limits access for girls, making the issue a cyclical one.
- Aid organisations call for US$162 million to address the urgent need of 1.5 million children and youth in the 2022 Afghanistan Humanitarian Response Plan for Afghanistan.
- NRC assisted 56,500 students and teachers (49 per cent female) with emergency education in 2021.
For more information or to arrange an interview, please contact:
- Christian Jepsen, Regional Media and Communications Adviser, Christian Jepsen - +254 706 248 391, christian.jepsen@nrc.no;
- NRC global media hotline: +47 905 62 329, media@nrc.no.
